The opening of August saw the US dollar trade steady after returning to gains when it closed late last week following profit -taking by investors over the weekend and the end of the month.
In the Asian session, the dollar index was still trading around one -month lows against most major currencies, with a slight rise at 92.13.
Meanwhile, US inflation figures in June were weaker than expected, with the core consumer personal spending price (PCE) price index reported rising 3.5% in June from an expected 3.7%, but slightly up from 3.4% recorded in the previous month.
Fed President St. Louis, James Bullard said the central bank should start cutting $ 120 billion in monthly bond purchases this fall and cut them quickly until the program ends in the first quarter of 2022 to open up opportunities for rate hikes that year if needed.
Asian currencies, particularly the Aussie dollar were among the worst affected by almost wiping out all of the gains gained from the previous weakness of the US dollar, due to growing Covid-19 pressure on Australia.
Meanwhile, the European currency remained stable despite declining following the rebound of the greenback dollar.
The euro traded around 1.1864 against the USD in the Asian session, having touched 1.1900 on Friday following readings of local economic growth data that exceeded expectations in the second quarter.
The pound’s recorded depreciation was also insignificant, still supported by a stronger outlook against the currency, amid an improving coronavirus outbreak situation in the UK.
This week’s focus will be on the policy meetings of the Central Bank of Australia (RBA) and England (BOE), as both central banks will announce monetary policy decisions. On Friday, the US will publish the NFP employment report for July.
